Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.), who is locked in a tough re-election fight in a Democratic-leaning state, said Monday that Rep. Todd Akin (R., Mo.) should resign as the GOP Senate candidate in Missouri, in the latest sign that Mr. Akin’s remarks on rape are reverberating through the political landscape.

“As a husband and father of two young women, I found Todd Akin’s comments about women and rape outrageous, inappropriate and wrong,” Mr. Brown said in a written statement. “There is no place in our public discourse for this type of offensive thinking. Not only should he apologize, but I believe Rep. Akin’s statement was so far out of bounds that he should resign the nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri.”

In an interview Sunday with KTVI in St. Louis, Mr. Akin, who is trying to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), was asked whether he favors abortion in cases of rape. “It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Reaction from both parties has been fierce to Mr. Akin’s distinction between “legitimate rape” and other kinds and to the suggestion that women’s bodies can shut down unwanted pregnancies.

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